Siren
by Pretty Persistent
Summary: Siren is a chapter fanfiction with multiple alternate universes that explore the marriage and hysterical pregnancy of Will and Terri Schuester during the first thirteen episodes of Glee.
1. Author's Note

Siren is a Glee fanfiction that explores the marriage and hysterical pregnancy of Will and Terri Schuester. Each chapter is a stand-alone alternative universe that parallels each episode of the 'first 13'. In every chapter, the story will explore what might have happened if Will had learned of the hysterical pregnancy in that episode.

To better understand this concept, note the following explanation: Chapter Two will being in Showmance. The idea is that Terri tells Will the truth, like she originally planned, during the dinner scene. From that point, the chapter will progress for any amount of time, until the story for that particular scenario comes to a close. Chapter Three will then start during Acafellas. Nothing that happened in Chapter Two will have occurred, but rather, canon will hold true up until Will once again gains knowledge of the hysterical pregnancy, and again, the chapter will progress in an alternate-universe from there. Each chapter can go for any amount of time into the future, but each chapter gets a fresh start, with all the canon influences and none of the alternate-universe occurrences from prior chapters.

I am also posting this story on tumblr at _siren-gleefic_**[DOT]**_tumblr_**[DOT]**_com_. There will be regular updates and this is also an additional option for submitting feedback and an easier way to ask any questions. I can also be contacted at the email address _siren_**[DOT]**_fanfic_**[AT]**_hotmail_**[DOT]**_com_ or via PM on this account.

I plan on posting the first chapter shortly, or by the end of today. I hope you'll all give it a chance! And of course, please give me any and all feedback. :)


	2. Chapter 1: Congratulations

**Congratulations**

XXX

Will stands in the kitchen, quietly eating a bowl of oatmeal, while he flips through the calendar.

It's still dark outside, but they're back in that fall routine—the one where the school year has only just begun, and Terri still has the motivation to get out of bed when he does, even if she's not working that morning.

Still in her robe, however, she's sitting at the corner table, sipping on a warm mug of coffee.

"Do you work tonight?" Will asks, following a few more moments of staring at the calendar.

"No," Terri answers, shortly.

"So, you'll be home?" he asks again.

"Where else would I be?" she sighs, impatiently.

"Okay. I was just wondering, because you're, uh—."

"Ovulating," she says, drawing out the word as she cuts him off. "I know, Will. Who do you think filled out that calendar?" She resents the fact that it's not programmed into his brain, like it is with hers; that he occupies himself with glancing through it in the morning, instead of sitting with her; that he's only been home for two of nine failed pregnancy tests.

"Baby…"

She squeezes her eyes shut tightly. He's been using the same pet name since they started dating, and only recently, she's found herself resenting it.

He slides into the booth, next to her. "I know it's hard right now," he whispers right in her ear. "As soon as it happens, I'll buy a brand new calendar," he assures her.

She glances over at him, expression remaining stoic.

"Diamond necklace?" he tries again, raising an eyebrow.

It causes her to burst into a short, quiet chuckle, and he pulls her into his arms, grinning right back.

"We can stop, you know. If you don't want to keep doing this," he tells her.

"No. No, it doesn't _work_, if you do it that way." Maybe she does want to stop altogether. But that would be his easy way out. Make her the bad guy, and then go find a new baby factory that doesn't include her crappy genes that spawn ginger-haired multiples.

"Okay." He nods, keeping his arm around her shoulder, rubbing it softly. "But stress makes it more difficult. I want you to relax, okay? Take a bubble bath today. Watch some movies." He tilts her chin up, kissing her lips. "I love you."

_This is the hard part_, she assures herself. She doesn't want to acknowledge that it could get harder. All she's ever wanted is to play house with Will Schuester. But they're not playing, anymore. And life isn't always fun.

"Love you, too," she murmurs, smiling softly as he waves goodbye from the door.

XXX

In bed, Will props himself up on his elbow. "Hey beautiful," he whispers, reaching over for her hand.

Sighing, she noisily closes her magazine and tosses it onto the nightstand, tugging down her panties in one swift motion.

"Terri…" he sighs, frowning.

"What?" She stares up at him looking frustrated, impatient, and worst of all, exhausted. And he knows she's not _tired_, because he gave her the day to relax, but she's just worn down from it all.

"It's more effective if you're in the mood…" he mumbles.

"Will, my god, we both know that's bullshit. Sex is sex. You don't get pregnant by 'making love'."

He's worn, too. He misses the days when he'd rush home from work and she would be waiting at the door and they would barely make it inside before collapsing into a heated, passionate love-making session of the living room floor, only to remain naked for the rest of the evening so that they could readily do it again and again and again…

With their upper-halves both still dressed, and him lifting her legs in the way they were instructed by a fertility book, he wonders just what he's sacrificing to make this family, especially when he already has one right there with him.

XXX

A month later, everything about Terri is completely different. Well, not everything. Mostly, she's back to her old self—still demanding and on him harder than ever, which he's letting slide even moreso now than he usually does, because he knows she would kill him if she found out he's been taking money from their bank account to use for the glee club.

The way she keeps talking about getting pregnant again is starting to make him feel guilty for hiding the fact that he's been taking money. After trying for so long, with no success, it was easy to forget they were even trying to expand their family.

But then something happened—she shifted. And he can see that she's already glowing, even though she's been yelling at him for things like putting mayonnaise on her sandwiches.

They start making love again. If not, then they're having some _hot _sex. And afterwards, they lie in bed and talk about names instead of ovulation cycles and cribs instead of fertility shots. Even as much as she's been talking about it and has become even stricter, it feels natural again. He no longer feels so _programmed _to be thinking about all the technical details all the time.

That's why it's just not the first thing on his mind when he walks through the door.

"There's my baby," he hears.

No, he's still not thinking about it, because that is a name they have called each other since long before pregnancy or children were even thought of.

"Wow, honey… This is amazing. What's the congratulations for?" He wracks his brain, trying to recall important dates, but the best he can come up with is, "The kids haven't won anything, yet."

"I'm pregnant."

With those two words, glee is now the furthest thing from his mind.

But then he realizes what she's actually just said, and they just stare at each other for a moment. She's still smiling and he looks like his eyes are about to pop out of his head, but in the best _and_ most nerving way possible.

"Really?"

"Yeah…"

"Terr, don't mess with me…" It's not her he has a hard time believing, but the entire reality of it. Pregnancy had become an idea—a fantasy, almost, that he thought about and expected, but never anticipated to be tangible.

"Yeah." Her grin is huge and she nods reassuringly.

"Oh my god, this is amazing," he says again, but with an entirely new meaning. The initial smile returns to his face and they chuckle together in a combination of nerves and excitement.

After he pulls her small frame into his arms, that's when it truly hits him. Soon, she'll be _pregnant_. Well, she _is _pregnant, and soon they'll be having a _baby_. He's going to miss holding her this close, but he imagines having something even smaller to hold and thinks he might really like that, too.

"We're gonna be a family…"

XXX

For the first time since high school, Terri feels like everything is perfect. Well, her life and adolescence have been far from perfect, and she can't say her relationship has ever been completely seamless, either, but Terri appreciates the idea. Because there is no 'perfect', appearing that way is the closest one can get. And in high school, Will and Terri sure appeared to be perfect. They were the it-couple. It had been so easy, then.

She knew if she pushed him hard enough, he would eventually realize that they couldn't exist in that world, anymore; that it wasn't going to be that easy, but that they could still be perfect. They could be the perfect married couple.

Terri's not sure how she could fulfill the role of the doting housewife any further. Well, perhaps she could cook and clean a bit more often, but if it's all about appearances, anyway, she doesn't see why she can't use shortcuts. But she'll work on it, because Will is taking the job at H.W. Menken. Although, when she thinks about it, she _is_ the one carrying the child… Regardless, they're both stepping it up, and with a baby on the way, all they need is to expand their quaint little apartment into a brand new house—no, _home_.

Then they'll be perfect, again.

He's late again, but she knows he has a lot of work to finish and things to pack before his two-week's notice is up. But by the time she finishes reheating the Chinese and setting it out on the table, he's walking through the door. At first he looks happy, but the smile quickly shifts and his face appears burdened.

"We need to talk, Ter," he says. Apparently, now he's all for cutting to the chase. It takes her a moment, but she turns around, keeping her hands clasped to the edge of the table for support as she faces him.

"There's a genetic disease that runs in your family, isn't there? God, I called your mom, of course, but I told you that you should have gotten screened!" she whined, desperately.

"No, no. Baby… no," he says, holding the sides of her shoulders and looking directly into her large, blue eyes. _That's not the look you give someone you're about to leave, right?_ "Why don't we sit down and eat?" he suggests.

She sits across from him, moving her fork around her food, a bit. She's surprised it actually happened, too, but he can't have changed his mind after everything they had been through to get to this point, right?

"I'm going to keep teaching, Terri. I… I'm not taking the accounting job. But I promise, I will find a way to—."

"Sleep on the couch tonight," she says flatly, standing up from the table.

"Wha…?" he starts, even though she wasn't cutting him off as quickly, this time. But his mouth drops into that face that makes him look so vulnerable and pathetic to anyone who doesn't know him better.

"Sleep on the couch, Will!" she confirms, while walking away.

After tossing some blankets and a pillow onto the couch from as far away as she can manage, Terri retreats to the bedroom for good.

XXX

It's not yet one o' clock in the morning when Terri quietly leaves the bedroom and stands in the hallway to watch him struggle to fit on the couch.

Only a moment after that, she's crawling onto the too-small couch with him and pulling the covers over her body. He looks at her and drops a kiss on her forehead before pulling her close, so that she doesn't fall.

"Are you scared, Terri?" he says after a long moment of silence, voice still barely audible.

She nods.

"Me too," he whispers. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"You didn't ask," she whispers back, in a tone just as hushed. "Will, when I was trying to tell you that we're pregnant, the first thing you brought up was the glee club…"

"I'm sorry. I promise, I'll do everything I can to make this work." He pauses for a moment, surely to see if she argues. But she's too tired and she just wants to be there with him. "I love you."

"Me too."

He starts to drift to sleep after a few minutes and Terri smiles to herself knowing that they fit more comfortably together than he had by himself.


End file.
